Behind the Mask
by Blackwolf-20
Summary: There's a reason why Kay is the way he is. Why he refuses to share his story with Jay. A reason, he fears, will destroy their relationship. (Minor MIB3 spoilers)


**Disclaimer: I don't own Men in Black**

**I decided to write this fic based on past speculation from one or two other fans who were trying to figure out what Kay's story would be in MIB3. I never liked the speculation they were making as I thought it would ruin Kay's character for me. But I also wanted to write a situation no one's dealt with before. All in keeping with the idea of writing alien themes that aren't visited much. There are minor MIB3 spoilers. And an unexpected twist. Told from Kay's P.O.V.**

Behind the Mask

Boris the Animal stood before me as a clear reminder of who I was. Of what kind of being I had been up to this point. It was just the two of us on the roof of a Chinese restaurant owned by non-humans. I imagined it was in greater chaos now with Jay manning the situation alone. Right now, I felt alone. I felt like Boris and myself were the only ones in the universe.

"You haven't changed very much. I see the arm I shot off is still, shot off." I stated it lightly as if I was commenting on the weather.

"Yes, my arm." He looked down at the loss on his left which was my doing. I wasn't sorry for it. All I was thinking was that I should have shot off a lot more than a limb. Right now, he was stirring up emotions in me that I did not want to feel. I briefly imagined that Jay would be happy if he knew, as much as he wanted me to show emotions.

"We've thought about that moment," he continued. He glanced down at his right palm which was occupied by his deadly companion. "Everyday, for the last forty years."

"Well that's just not living the full life," I told him. But I knew a thing or two about not living the full life. I don't believe I've ever lived it…since _that_ day.

"I can promise you it will be longer than yours."

"Lonelier too. Since you're the last Boglodite standing." It was difficult for me to say that much, even in the nasty way I'd said it. I had ruined his life, but he had ruined mine first.

"We'll see about that," he noted. "But first, I want the pleasure of killing you."

It happened quicker than I thought. Boris made to target me with his deadly weapon; the creature within his hand that would shoot me down. As luck would have it, my own destructive partner chose that time to make an appearance. The door became a shield for us as spikes launched toward their target—me.

"Well the hell have you been?" In that moment, as Boris was backing us away across the roof, I decided Jay might have been helpful here.

"Fishing," he snapped.

Whatever that meant, it didn't matter. It was taking all we could to hold up the shield as spikes pierced through the steel. We were at the edge before we realized it. Then, we were falling, with the door acting as a mechanical parachute. The narrow space of the buildings, along with the stairwells helped to slow our fall. Eventually it became stuck, forcing us to drop the rest of the way to the ground without it. At least it wasn't far enough to break our necks, but we were still winded.

I looked up at the roof from which we had fallen and saw Boris the Animal stepping on the edge, staring down at me.

"You don't know it Kay, but you're already dead."

He hadn't shouted the threat, but I could still hear it. I refused to let it show. Up until now, I was capable of seizing the upper hand against such creatures, however, I wasn't so sure I would be fortunate this time around. I felt that this time, it would be the last of me.

I continued to stare even after he walked away. Jay shifted to his side and immediately turned his attention on me. "You all right?" he asked. His concern was understandable. I was past my prime. I was much older and unable to take a fall like that without injury. But he didn't know enough about me to know he had no reason to worry. I didn't answer. My mind was still on Boris. He had knowingly unearthed a past I wanted to stay buried. A past that did not reflect my currently life—my false life.

I sat up and my eyes fell to the ground. I didn't know what to make of my current circumstance. Boris had escaped, and I feared not only my life escaping, but my own truth. I lifted my hand to the right side of my neck and felt something that startled me. I turned my head further away from my partner.

"Give me a minute will you slick."

"Kay?"

I didn't look at him as I got to my feet. Instead I walked away while keeping my hand against my neck.

"Kay, where you going?"

I heard him start to follow, but I lifted my other hand. I heard him come to a stop. That was all it took. I kept going, knowing I was only making our relationship harder. It was strained, and he had been doing all he possibly could to repair it. But I could not give him what he wanted. I could not tell him my side of the story without destroying what we had from the beginning. He would never look at me the same.

I made my way to a café across the street, away from the extraterrestrial horror. M.I.B agents would converge upon the corner in no time, and I had to fix my current issue.

The worker immediately welcomed me, but before he could ask what I would like, I flashed my M.I.B identity. He paled and nodded for me to accomplish whatever I desired. I headed to the men's room. Once I established that the room was clear, I secured the door. Slowly, very slowly, I turned to the mirror and dropped my hand to my side. It felt like years since I actually looked at myself, upon reflective glass.

Nonetheless I walked toward it. I stopped and stood very still.

Yes, it had been a while since I looked at myself. I was a typical human who suffered much stress, and needed a long vacation. My face was worn, and tight the way my partner always insisted. The hair was graying, the peachy skin was wrinkling, but the eyes were still my own. Deep, yet sorrowful. I had witnessed the worst the day I first met Boris, and I continued to witness it long after that day. Jay had no idea. And I had no intention of telling him. Maybe I never would.

I raised my hand up to the right side of my neck. There was a definite tear. I sighed as I continued to stare at my reflection. Briefly I thought about all the extraterrestrials I had put away. I thought about the people I worked with. And I thought about the world I lived in. With those thoughts burning in my mind, and with my eyes focused on the eyes reflected in the glass, I dug my fingers under the tear.

I dug deeper and ran my hands around the front of my neck. Slowly I began to pull the skin upwards. Not once did I take my eyes off my own. I continued to watch up to the point where I pulled the skin over my eyes.

With the epidermis removed, I would be able to see clearly what was underneath, but I did not look back at my reflection yet. I knew what was there. There wasn't the typical bloody mass of muscle. There was something else. Another face—my face. The one neither Jay nor many other agents had seen. The secret died with Zed, and stayed alive only in O. I lay the mask of skin on the sink and turned to my hands. With some effort, I managed to pull away the skin. Soon enough, I had gloves of skin hanging next to the face mask. I sighed again, then slowly I raised my head to look at my reflection properly.

It was blue. My skin was a darkish blue. My nose was almost nonexistent with the flat, round appearance. It carried none of the wrinkles of the other face, but there were many bumps running just under and around my neck. The gills running aside my cheeks and up to the area where my ears would be, flapped and invited more oxygen into my system, though it was not as pure as I liked. I had almost forgotten the iridescent shades of purples, greens and pink reflecting on the gills. For so long, they needed to be flattened and immobile, in order to allow air to only pass through the nasal passages. I looked down at my hands. The fingernails were still a healthy bright yellow. I watched as the bumps started to rise up along my arms. I took a hand and lightly ran if down the thinning white hair on my scalp. I sighed again and dropped my hand.

I noticed, after all that time wearing that mask, my real features had nearly taken on the shape of the human appearance. I found it frightening at first. That other face was not me, yet, it was who I had been pretending to be, for far too long.

I was not human agent Kay—I was Kayolepian Scinnaros, and not Kevin Brown. But I couldn't help wondering if I was that anymore.

Boris the Animal came to mind, and immediately my gills flapped in rage. He was the reason I was feigning as a human. He was a consumer of planets. And in no time, he consumed my home planet Cytola. I had been fortunate enough to escape. Several of us had. But one by one, they had all been killed, by the Animal. Boris was the last Boglodite. I was the last Cytolan.  
I raised my hand and flattened it against the mirror as I thought back to my early days. It had been lonely, running about all on my own. Luckily I had been saved, by human men, on the same night another alien craft visited earth. This time, humans, or rather those few humans were aware.

They were aware, that we were here. They believed I had a good handle on outworldly visitors, simply due to my greeting with the tall figures. Before that, I had never met another race, but we were no different. I glanced down at my black suit. From that moment, I was an M.I.B agent. I was a human, M.I.B agent. It was agreed that I would continue aging the mask throughout the years in order to keep the charade going, though I felt I had aged a lot more than my human counterpart. Pictures of my true self were altered, and I forced myself to acclimate to human ways, especially the food which I had come to appreciate more than some. New M.I.B agents never knew. The secret laid with a chosen few, and the chief of M.I.B. It was for my safety, as well as the safety of others, particularly my partners. Then never knew, not even my current partner. I was free to do so, but, I never did.

I was an enemy to practically every alien races who believed I was not one of them. I chose the side of good. They had chosen the side of evil. There were never any slip ups, except when it came to Sr. Edwards, Jay's father.

I turned away from my reflection. Disgust started to fill me at the thought of that horrible day. The day I let Boris slip through my claws and kill his father.

Aside from my physical secret, I could never bring myself to tell the man. It had been the first and only time I had betrayed a human. I should have been punished, but it wasn't taken as my fault. I gazed up at my reflection once more. I stared into my own dark eyes. They were the only things I did not have to change, except for the color which was originally light blue. I could change them no more. I was getting older. My body had acclimated to aging the way a human did, however, I believed that would end soon. I believed I might actually outlive Jay, and that the rest of agents who didn't know my differences, would know soon enough. If so, would my time as an agent come to an end? I wasn't sure I minded if it did. I was a lie.

I looked down at the human mask and hands. That was the person agent Jay knew. I looked back into the mirror. Agent Jay was placing all his effort into discovering who I was. Who is the man under the tight façade? The reflection would have told him.

There was a knock at the door. Calmly I began to place the human mask back over my head. I did the same with the peachy gloves. Once I was finished, I looked at the difference for the last time.

There was a reason I didn't look in mirrors. There was a reason I was serious and tight-faced as Jay claimed me to be. I was not who he thought I was, and I never would be who I really am. I had always thought everyone, particularly the agents, were alone in the universe when in fact it was just me. Me—an Boris. It was the only thing we had in common. We were simply on two different sides.

The knock on the door started again. I straightened my suit. There was no question about which one of us would truly be the last of his kind standing. I would get Boris. There was only one question. Would Jay ever know, who I was?

The knock started again and I turned to the door. I rejoined the human world, once again pretending to be apart of it. I passed the individual knocking at the bathroom door and made my way toward the one I'd left behind. The one I had been lying to. If I was lucky, he would never know the truth. Then again, the biggest destroyer of the universe was—regret.

**There was the twist. Kay is really an alien! It was a speculation made by only a few before MIB3 premiered. Some thought Kay would turn out to be an alien, and I strongly hoped it wasn't true. I'm all for human Kay, but when it comes to fanfiction, there are possibilities. It would be interesting to see how Jay would react, like in a sequel. But I believe I'll leave it here.**

**So please review! **


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